We first got a peek at Jon and Nina's home in their house call. It's a clean, simple sanctuary in a busy Downtown LA area—but it isn't boring in the slightest. Bold contrasts add drama while design details stand out in a space without a lot in it but that has a lot going for it. Nina and Jon share the story of their space and their backgrounds:

Nina and Jon met 13 years ago on the island of Maui, Hawai’i. Both grew up in tropical jungle settings—Nina from Hilo, Hawai’i and Jon from Papua, Indonesia. Once moving to Los Angeles, they were drawn more to the jungle of downtown LA’s high-rise buildings, concrete structures, and eclectic mash of cultures. Nina and Jon both run the design studio Weekday Studio(find them on Instagram and Pinterest, too) and though they’ve called Downtown LA home for the past 10 years, they are always on the move—from weekend adventures across California, frequent trips back to Maui (their second home), to round-the-world jaunts to see family and friends. When they settled into their place (above Grand Central Market) they wanted a convenient, welcoming place to unpack and relax.

Nina’s love of minimal and modern keeps their place beautiful while Jon’s love of lounging and relaxing keeps it welcoming. “One of our favorite things about starting Weekday Studio is that we get to work with so many amazingly talented people. A lot of our clients are local makers here in LA so our house is almost like a showroom of them- from our Chris Earl tables, chairs, and ceramics, Stephen Kenn’s sofa and pillows, to Brendan Ravenhill’s lighting. Working with such talented people is always inspiring and one of our favorite things about our house and this city.”

Apartment Therapy Survey:

Our Style: Clean and Simple (for now). It changes all the time.

Inspiration: Hotels! We love going to hotels. We go on mini trips all the time just to stay in hotels, so we wanted to bring a bit of the feeling into our home. LA is busy, and dirty and loud and we love it (it really is wonderful!), so we wanted to be able to come up and feel at peace.

Biggest Challenge: We rent so it doesn’t make sense to do too much to the structure, but it’s so hard for me to not rip out and put in new fixtures and finishes in the bathroom and kitchen! I tried to distract the eye with accessories instead.

What Friends Say: We’re downstairs at the market, can we come up?! Or “You’re bathroom is very large”.

Biggest Embarrassment: Probably our kitchen in general. Hence the no pictures of it. It’s just dark with no natural light accessible to it. The cabinets are blah. We upgraded them a bit with Lewis Dolin cabinet pulls, but really can’t do much more than that since it’s a rental.

Proudest DIY: The slate clock. I wanted a minimal black and gold clock and couldn’t find what I was looking for anywhere, so bought a round slate cheese board, drilled a hole in it (with the help from a friend who had the proper drill), and inserted the gold handles. The whole thing costs under $25!

Biggest Indulgence: Our custom Stephen Kenn sofa. On one hand it was a total splurge, but the sofa really is the most adaptable and timeless sofa I know of. The frame can be powder-coated or plated a new color whenever we want to change it and you can order new cushion covers in a whole new colorway and feel like you have a whole new sofa. We got the 3 piece version and it is genius because it can fit in tiny elevators or stairways. We will definitely have it for the rest of our lives, and I’m sure it will probably look very different along the way.